This invention relates to a field of human urinary appliance or devices which have been adapted to be held in place exterior to the human form; and more particularly, this invention relates to a field of urinary appliances which have been specifically adapted to be gently held in place essentially exterior to the female human form. The appliance has been found effective when used by a subject who is in an upright, sitting, or generally supine position.
Certain paraplegic, quadriplegic, incontinent, and other female human subjects often require assistance when relieving the urinary bladder of urine. The female urinary appliance industry manufactures a variety of devices adapted to provide different degrees of assistance to such subjects. One problem the female urinary appliance industry faces is manufacture of an appliance which is easily worn and which does not leak when in use. This essentially means that the appliance must not only be capable of being secured to the female human form by commercially available securement means and of being held snugly in place by such securement means, but it also means that the appliance must provide an effective and otherwise non-leaking seal when applied to the female human form (or outer surface of the body). In addition, these appliances must be non-binding, non-pinching, non-irritating, resilient, elastic, sterile, aseptic and generally somewhat smooth and soft to the touch.
Much of the prior art has not addressed the leakage problem associated with bodily engagement of a particular urinary appliance upon the female human form; and therefore, much of the female urinary appliance prior art has avoided claiming a leak-free urinary appliance. The key to the leak-free feature of any female urinary appliance is the way in which such appliance engages the female human form.
Many of the difficulties associated with a female urinary appliance making a sealing engagement with the female human form naturally grow out of the unique nature of the external female organs of generation which, of course, surround the orifice of the urethra. Reference to FIG. 8 is herein made to illustrate engagement of the appliance with generally recognized female bodily surfaces.
Medical authority teaches us that the external organs of generation in the human female are the mons Veneris, the labia majora and minora, the clitoris, the meatus urinarius, and the orifice of the vagina; and further defines the term "vulva" or "pudendum" to include all these parts. In addition, the "vestibule", as used in connection with the female human form, is medically defined to be located in a triangularly shaped, smooth region between the clitoris and the entrance of the vagina, and bounded on each side by the labia minora. Lastly, medical authority teaches us that the meatus urinarius (also referred to as the orifice of the urethra) is situated at a back (or lower) part of the vestibule, about an inch below the clitoris, near the margin of the vagina, and that the meatus urinarius is surrounded by a prominent elevation of a mucous membrane (also referred to as the mucosa).
It is an object of the present invention to provide a female urinary appliance which can make a leak-free sealing engagement with the female human form, while the subject is in a standing, sitting, or generally supine position.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a leakfree female urinary appliance which provides the subject with only a relatively minor degree of discomfort when worn.
These and other objects of the present invention will become clear upon reading the detailed description and upon making reference to the drawings contained herein.